Friday, April 11, 2008

By Amar GuriroKARACHI: For 30-year-old fruit vender Babu Bhai, it was a new experience to witness armed men attack an office building and set it on fire in no time with several people still trapped inside. “It was like a scene from an English movie. Armed men, the majority of whom were in their youth, with a blatant disregard for law and order, firing and setting the building on fire at will,” he said. Babu sells fruit on a pushcart near Tahir Plaza, the six-storey building that was set on fire during the Wednesday riots, and, in which at least six people were burnt alive. A shopkeeper selling detergent also saw what happened. “We knew since morning that the lawyers were protesting over something, but we took it lightly, thinking it was like any other protest where they shout slogans and give speeches before taking it back to the courts, but all of the sudden riots broke out. It was like someone had pressed the play button setting off a chain of unfortunate events,” he said. He saw at least 10 people with guns running into the building. “Some of the rioters came from the court while others came on motorcycles, and it seemed that they all knew what to do,” he said.